Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-24
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
Electricity Proposed as Substitute
for Hanging as Punishment
for Murderers.
The Certain and instantaneous Work of
Electrtcity-Some of the Methods
Suggested.
philadelphia Ne VS..

/
! Recent fatal accidents to linemen both
in this city and in New York, caused by
men coming IN contact with heavily
charged electric light wires, have revived
interest in the idea of displacing the
gallows by electricity as means of
capital punishment.
Bills have been framed by anti-hanging
societies in several states, and will
be presented to the various state Legis-
latures, providing for the employment of
electricity instead Of the moose in eXecu-
tions. The advantages of the method over
the present mode of infiicting the death
! penalty is so apparent that it is probable
| that the bills will meet with approval
| in some of the states at an early day.
/ Numerous methods, or rather many
ways of applying the same method, have
| been suggested, but only three have met
with general approval among the pro-
| Inoters of the movement. The only queS-
! tion considered is which would be the
fsurest and quickest means of causing
death. Said very prominent electrician
VINO is interested in the movement yes
terdaY:
"Many things would nave to be Consid-
cred before q method of killing by cleo
tricIty could be applied. There is no
doubt about the power, nor is there any
question but that it could be use / so as to
cause death instantly and without pain.
What would kill one person might have
but little effect upon others, however.
After determining the necessary force to
execute, the exact manner of apply
ing is not of so much importance as is the
portion of the body upon which the
charge would be delivered. Should an
electric bolt be applied to the back of the
neck so as to strike the spinal column. a
much smaller charge would be required
to kill than probably in any other portion
CT the body.
81 am not, nor is any one, able to give
the exact strength of battery to cause
death. 1t is generally thought that 250
volts would not kill in a ma ority of cases,
while II is known that 1000 volts would
produce death almost regardless of how
1t was applied. The electric light wires
on Chestnut street are charged with 5000
volts, SO you can readily see how danger
Gus 1t would be for a person to touch an
exposed portion of the wire without any
thing like connection between himself
and the ground"
L
applying the charge to the back of the
neck, is considered by electricians
to be the surest and swiftest,
and at the same time requiring
the least force. A band fits close around
the head, with one pole pressing hard
against the spinal column at the back of
the neck TIE condemned man stands
spon zinc plate insulated from the floor.
IT - no ,Nla ~ ba hot
is connected. The instant the current is
thrown on from the dynamo machine
death ensues.
The most humane or merciful method
is that proposed by Jablakoff, the IA
nous Russian electrician. He suggests
g large armchair, with copper arms con-
nected with wires. Wires also run to
ktAe metal plate upon which the chair
Stands, and upon which the feet Of the
coHdemned man are placed. Behind the
ehair is a powerful coil. The doomed
man is seated in the chair with his hands
resting on the copper plates, his arms
being firmly held to the arms
of the chair by straps. AS very
little except the chair is seen by
the victim, and as there Is an entire
absence Of anything indicating to him the
approaching dissolution, this method has
less terrors than any other. Indeed, ia
blakoff claims that, if desirable, the exc
cution could take place without the con-
demned having knowledge that his life
was about to end. A wave of the hand of
the executioner, the touching of button,
or, as has been suggested, the tipping of
the scales of justice, closes the circuit
and all Is over.
Somewhat similar to the Hayes CARR
son method is that of MendeZ While it
has all the terrors of the former, it re-
quires, the electricians claim, q greater
force. The doomed man stands upon
glass plate perfectly insulated from the
floor. Around his head is band of rubs
Der, with the two poles of the battery
pressing close against the temples. All
ready, the signal is given, the dynamo in
an adjoining room, or mile away, If
prepared, throws its force upon the wires
attached to the mans head, and, without
pain, life is extinct.
"In the instance OF the man who was
killed in this city short time ago while
repairing an electric light WIRE" said the
electrician quoted shove, che was actually
cooked TO death. He might as well be hit
in the head with club, so lar as ease in
dissolution was concerned. The charge
wss strong enough under either of the
methods of JackIakoff, Hayes Garrison
or MendeZ to kill dozen men perhaps,
while it was barely sufficient TO kill one
man under the sad conditions made pub
lie at the iTquest."
Another interesting instrument sug-
gested as a means OF punishment is
the electric cat -nine-tails invented by
Henry Psget, Of LYONS, France. The
person to be whipped is strapped to a
steel triangle connected with one pole Of
battery. The other pole connects with
whip composed of steel wires covered !
with sponge. The whip is dipped in
water, and when the stroke is administer
ed to the bare back electric discharges !
are made. MIR. Paget claims that his in
vention should be adopted in every
cieiEzed country to be used in the punish |
ment Of wife heaters.